Father and Daughter
by gioalle1
Summary: It may be hard, in cold nights like this. But Emma Swan has someone on her side making her understand how to fight for your love.


Obviously, I don't own Once Upon a Time or its characters.

I totally own every mistake you could find here.

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Signature.

Signature.

Documents.

Watch telephone which is not ringing.

Watch mobile which is not ringing.

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Emma Swan's nights were everything but interesting, always stuck in the police station for 12 endless hours.

"I brought you coffee"

Male voice.

David.

Dad.

"Helps you not falling asleep, they say".

"Thank you, David." The word _dad_ still made her feel uncomfortable.

"Something new?" asked David, giving her daughter the hot cup of black coffee. With _a lot_ of sugar.

"Nope..." started Emma, and he wasn't even surprised by her answer.

"No one has called, no one is drunk or screaming "I love a fairy" to a street lamp. No one has lost a dog..."

"That's a good thing, right?" David tried again to be positive, but couldn't avoid noticing Emma's distant and anxious attitude.

"Yes, David...definitely a perfect night to develop an addiction to black hot beverages..." Emma tried a smile and some sarcasm.

"Considering your mood, a beer would've been more appropriate...but considering also we're working, I guess it's out of question..."

"Coffee is perfect, really. And thank you for patrolling, tonight".

"You're welcome. I thought you could take some time to rest...and stay warm. It's damn cold, outside..." David was unconsciously trying to make Emma talk and feel comfortable, but that night it was harder than ever.

"I'm not actually tired..."

David made another step towards her daughter, both physically and metaphorically. "Just thoughtful, right?"

"Is it so obvious?" Emma didn't even try to hide her state of mind, behind those green eyes watching absent-mindedly the smoke coming out of the cup.

"Is it about Henry?" The man already knew the answer.

"Oh, no! Henry is fine, really...he's just so...perfect." Emma's eyes lit up when she spoke about her son; David realized how genuine and natural had become the feeling of her being proud of him, and he couldn't avoid to ask himself if he had something similar in his eyes when he talked about her daughter.

Pride.

David wanted again, so badly, to see that smile only Emma could give him. He tried to make her laugh with a simple "Is it about Leroy? It seems to me you miss him going around here with his bottles of beer..."

"Well...not that I wouldn't mind a beer, as I told you, but no...I'm happy Leroy decided to stay at home tonight!"

After a few seconds, their genuine laughters faded away.

Not Henry. Not Leroy.

"So, it's somebody else."

"Yes. Somebody else." admitted Emma.

"This _somebody _must be quite special to make you feel worried, angry and dreamy, all in once..."

Emma smiled softly, but still her eyes had a vague shadow which made suddenly disappear that almost happy feeling from her face.

"I don't know how I feel about this person...and with my _I don't know_ I mean I may have already screwed everything up..."

"Do you know it's something I'm quite familiar with, don't you?"

"Yes..." Emma smiled again, actually ready to hear once more that story about how David and Mary Margaret had met. About how _her father and her mother _had met.

"Not that that's the perfect story for someone who's having a night shift in a boring town, but I'm quite sure you may work on something to fix what you did."

"I hardly think so..."

Emma cut his father's positive attitude in just four words. But she owned her father an explanation.

"Well, that _someone _asked me out..." Emma hesitated for a moment before going on. "... and I said no..."

"You mother robbed be, the first time we met...it could've been worse for you, believe me."

Except that Emma hadn't finished, yet.

"I ran away."

David stared at her daughter for a few endless moments.

Silence. And then he spoke.

"At least you were in character, Emma!"

"That was really rude from you, David!" Emma pretended to be offended by that sarcastic remark, but her resistance lasted just a few seconds before joining her father's cheerful laughter.

"I was afraid." Emma became serious again.

"I can see it, sweetheart. It means this is important...that you care a lot about this _someone_"

"Shit, I think I do...but our relationship is already quite...complicated". Emma didn't know if she was more confused or scared, at that point.

"That's a good start, for me..."

David couldn't avoid to be supportive; he smiled at her daughter, trying to show her that everything would have been ok. And again he saw that light in her eyes, when Emma smiled again.

Was she proud of him?

Proud of her father?

"Do you know your mother thinks you have feeling for Captain Eyeliner, right?"

Emma's reaction was hilarious. She actually had no idea about it, but she found the news definitely funny. Something like _you're fucking kidding me _came out of her lips.

"And do you know I think you should take _her _to the best place around here and show her you're a damn Charming, right?!"

Emma noticed the deliberate use of that pronoun. That _right_ pronoun. _Her_.

David decided to eventually abandon that useless use of neutral words and pronouns.

Because he knew.

He simply knew, just like a father naturally should do.

Emma barely had the time to react and be surprised, because David stood up and got closer to her daughter, still sat on her chair with her untouched cup of coffee in her hands.

"The lights were still on, 30 minutes ago. She wasn't sleeping...she also saw the cruiser and I bet she hoped it was you..."

"But I screwed up, dad! I said no..."

Emma was still conflicted, uncertain about what to do; in her mind, again, that fake pride on Regina's face, her obvious passive-aggressive reaction when Emma said _no _to her offer of having a dinner together.

Emma didn't even want to say no.

It should have been a yes.

A _huge _yes. But, again, fear made her do the wrong thing.

On the other side, her father and his enthusiasm were there.

He hadn't been the one stuck with her in the Enchanted Forest.

He hadn't been the one hugging her the first time she saw her bedroom, back in their parents' castle.

He had been the one who was initially scared to remain in Storybrooke.

He had been stuck in another marriage with a woman who wasn't his true love.

But he was there, sharing a job, sharing his past.

Sharing everything with his daughter.

And, damn, he certainly knew a lot about shitty situations.

Maybe he was right.

Shit, he was so right.

"Emma, stop thinking. Go and get her". David had never sounded so sure and resolute about something.

"But if..." Emma tried to interrupt him, maybe to find an excuse.

"Go. And. Get. Her." David ordered.

And Emma Swan ran. To get Regina Mills.


End file.
